Report on surveillance delayed

Preliminary findings of a European Parliament inquiry into member states’ controls on surveillance are taking longer than expected to emerge.

The Parliament’s civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee was scheduled to examine a report in Strasbourg on Monday (18 November), but the report was not ready.

The committee has been interviewing representatives of national parliaments to ascertain how Europe’s intelligence services are overseen by their respective national parliaments. On Thursday (14 November) it heard from representatives from Belgium and Denmark.

Earlier in the week the committee heard from US Republican congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, a prominent critic of the US National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance programme – in what is believed to be the first time a sitting US congressman has given testimony before a European Parliament committee.

Sensenbrenner, a chief architect of the Patriot Act of 2001 – the largest expansion of security and oversight systems in US history – has proposed legislation to reform US surveillance practices to prevent what he sees as recent abuses. But he rebuffed calls from MEPs to add provisions to his proposal that would protect the privacy of non-American citizens.